


Our Souls Are Dust and Starlight

by orphan_account



Category: Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer, Doctor Who, His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman, Sherlock (TV), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Never gonna finish, Some mentions of daemon prejudice, lots of fandoms, no crossovers though, no seriously, way too many - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-21
Updated: 2013-11-02
Packaged: 2017-12-27 05:21:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 1,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/974902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Basically a compliation of short daemon!ficlets for multiple fandoms. Some are based on ideas from other places, some are my own invention. Enjoy!<br/>Oh, and if you have other daemon-related headcannons for any characters in these 'verses, please comment below. I'd love to hear them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Tony

Hell, he always knew she was going to settle. No way around it, not really. They’d tried, of course, but they both knew they were simply delaying the inevitable.

Despite her unwillingness to spend the rest of their life in one form, Ash had theories. Stuff she wanted to settle as, stuff she thought fitted them.

She hadn’t predicted this though. Neither of them had.

“And you’re sure.” He asks for the fifth time, as they stare at the ceiling. “You’re definitely sure.”

“Why?” She challenges him, and he knows the sharpness in her voice means she’s scared as all hell. “You don’t like?”

He sighs. This is going to be tricky, he knows. There’s just so much _stigma_ in place, centauries old. Just a couple of hundred years back, and they’d probably be executed for this. If some people had their way, they might even be executed now, in this age of goddamn _modern science_.

And yet…

She’s beautiful. His Ashkel, his soul. She’s fucking beautiful.

“I like it fine.” He tells her, and takes her smooth dark hand in his. She looks at him and grins, and even though she’s got a snubbed nose and full lips and a fucking awesome afro, she looks so like him in that moment that they could be twins.

They’ll sort it out. He doesn’t care how, but they will. They have twice the smarts and twice the hands and twice the skill at forging documents.

They’re Tony and Ashkel, Ashkel and Tony, and the universe doesn’t stand a chance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you might have guessed by now, Ashkel settled as a human. For me, humans represent both intelligance and complicated emotions; we can be extremely selfish and extremely selfless, staggeringly kind, and terrifyingly cruel. The original idea came from Nat Nav's fic Implications.


	2. The Doctor

He wishes he had a daemon.

Yes, it’s impractical. When he first found out about daemons, he was horrified. How did they stand it, having something so precious outside them, all the time, always vulnerable? Keeping their soul where it could be seen, be touched, be _hurt_. It scares him, to have the people he loves so open to attack in this way.

If he had a daemon, he would build it a suit of adamantium and vibranium and Chulasion iron, with a mask of Thetan diamond-glass. He’s tempted to do the same for Aster and Maia, though he’s not sure how he’d accommodate Aster’s wings. Or leave a hole so Maia could still smell. He thinks he could, if he put his mind to it. It’d be an interesting challenge. But they’d never wear them.

Mind you, he’s not entirely sure what form his daemon would take. He knows Amy and Aster think platypus, while Rory and Maia are betting on a giraffe. But try as he might, he can’t think of one shape that would define him. His soul stays inside, curled up between his hearts, and he likes it that way, thank you very much.

Still.

They’re never lonely. Never truly alone. They always have someone with them, someone who understands. They will never have to face the darkness with no-one by their side.

But in a way, neither will he.

She thrums beneath him and around him. Her heart is metal and glass and wires in a thousand different colours. Her body is huge and strong and eternal. She is his home, his sanctuary, his guide to a universe he would die to protect, and so much more. She’s always there, long after the rest of them have gone.

Just a boy and his box, off to see the universe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's always been my headcannon that the Doctor didn't have a daemon. After all, he's so complicated that no one form could hope to describe him. Amy's Aster is a swan and Rory's Maia is a beagle. Swans might be beautiful and graceful, but they're also one of the only species of bird to have teeth, and they are freaking psychos when it comes to defending their young. Beagles are associated with kindness and loyalty, which I think is very accurate for Rory. Both of these ideas came from Mad_Maudlin's fic The Swan Princess. I believe it's on here, if you want to check it out. I suggest you do. It's brilliant.


	3. River

“Well, crap.” He says, as he moves to stand by her side. “I did not expect that to work.”

“Me neither, sweetie. Well, the universe is strange in that way.”

“You’re telling me.”

“So where now?”

They hadn’t really planned this far. They’d been so focused on figuring out how to break out of the most secure prison in the universe that what they would do if the plan actually worked was sort of secondary.

They have the vortex manipulator, though. They can go pretty much anywhere. 

“Um…..” Daumantas sits back on his haunches and gazes up at the stars spread above them like a banner. He considers for a moment, head cocked, before pointing a paw. “That way, I think.”

“Sounds great” she agrees, and sets the co-ordinates.

There is a fuzz of electricity, and then the woman with the curly blond hair and the red-tinted leopard vanish from the barren moon without a trace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> River's daemon is a leopard, but he's a colour varient; his fur is red-tinted with darker red spots. Think iron deposits red, or rust red. Leopards are the most adaptable species of big cat, as well as being pretty damn deadly.


	4. Artemis

The daemon is like nothing he’s ever seen before. This was a possibility, of course. After all, by all accounts fairies are sentient. It makes sense that the other thinking species on this planet would have daemons too.  

It is a relative of the modern dragonfly, as far as he can tell, but a distant one. It’s too large, for one thing. The body is as long as his forearm. When Butler tranked the fairy, it folded its wings- something else modern dragonflies don’t do- and settled on her chest. It’s wings are panes of moonstone.

Somehow, that makes it harder.  Before, they were just animals to be hunted. Now that he’s seen one of them, seen its _soul….._ The fairy girl looks very…..human.

Tamsya rubs the side of his face with her beak. “We can’t afford to think like that, Arty,” she murmurs.

“I know.” He tells her.

With the help of Tamsya and Armesia, Butler’s daemon, he manages to get the daemon into a Plexiglas box. Of course, he tucks that box into the body bag with her.

He’s not a complete monster.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holly's daemon is a prehistoric dragonfly, Tamsya is a raven, and Armesia is an Arabian wolf. Ravens are traditionally associated with wisdom, although some believe them to be bad luck. Dragonflies may be pretty, but they are truly deadly ariel hunters. If you were a fly, they would be your worst nightmare. Wolves are seen as a warrior's daemon, as well as having connetations of loyalty.


	5. Steve

When they come out of the ice, the world has changed.

He’s not entirely sure it’s for the better.

Ella doesn’t think so either. The exhaust fumes hurt her nose, and she’s constantly scratching it. There were exhaust fumes before, of course, but they weren’t so thick, or so choking.  The daemons around them don’t seem to notice.  He supposes they’re just used to it.

But the real source of awfulness isn’t the thick air, or the skyline he doesn’t remember. It’s not the weird food or the credit card machines or the fact that half the time he has no idea what’s going on.

It’s the loneliness.  It’s crushing.

If he didn’t have Ella, with her thick curly white fur and kind eyes, he’s pretty sure he would have given up by now. Thrown himself into the busy road, or brought a gun or a bottle of sleeping pills, or taken the knife from the kitchen.  In this new world, there are a thousand ways to die. And, of course, no-one to miss him.

No-one, that is, except Ella.

So, yeah, he stays. He gets air-freshener for the apartment, and joins a gym, and finds out how much he likes Chinese.  He gets a phone and learns how to play DoodleJump.

Because of Ella

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ella is an Irish Wolfhound. Let's face it, Steve's daemon was always going to be a dog. Kind, loyal, brilliant team players...it might be cliche, but in my mind there was only ever one choice for Steve.


	6. Donna

She doesn’t get it.

She doesn’t get a lot of things, but she really, really doesn’t get this.

Not that Caedmon isn’t beautiful, obviously. He’s bloody gorgeous. It’s just…well……

She just _doesn’t get it._

And it sucks, just a little.

All the jokes about ginger apparently being a soul thing. The funny looks. The people that cross the street to avoid her. The rush hours where there’s no room for both of them on the bloody bus.

Mind you, she gets excellent service anywhere she goes, so that’s something.

It takes her years to understand.

It takes a skinny lunatic whose soul lives inside him to look down at Caedmon and then up at Donna and _see._

He tries to tell her a thousand times, but she doesn’t listen. She’s just a temp from Chiswick, for God’s sake. Ordinary. Run-of-the-bloody-mill.

It’s only on the Dalek spaceship, with the universe catapulting round her brain, when she looks down at Caedmon and he looks up at her. His fur has become white, pure white like the core of a star. His stripes are deep-space black and his eyes are supernova-blue.

He looks at her and he tells her;

“We were made for this.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Caedmon is a tiger. For the majority of their life, he's a normal gingery colour, but he changes colour when she becomes the DoctorDonna. Tigers are powerful hunters and fierce opponents, as well as being ginger.


	7. Bruce

The lab is brilliant.

He has everything he needs here; space, equipment, materials and a state-of-the-art computer system powered by the world’s first functioning AI. Say what you like about Tony Stark, but he can be extraordinarily generous.

Erni approves too. Tony took her shape into account, and installed an array of ferret tunnels between the desks, so she doesn’t have to jump gaps or climb down to the floor. At the moment she’s perched on his bench, looking over his equations with a practised eye as he feeds them into the computer.

“You got this bit wrong.” She points out, nudging  the offending digits with her nose. “It should be 4.34, not 4.31.”

“No, I’m pretty sure I got it right.” But he changes the numbers anyway. If there’s one thing he learned from his lifetime with Ernessa, it’s that she’s smarter than him.

She is his soul, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ernessa is a ferret. These animals are normally associated with intelligence.


	8. Sherlock

Anyone else would hide her. Tuck her into a pocket or a bag. Separate from her and leave her at home.   

They are separated   but only for convenience.  Thesea doesn’t leave him a lot. When they have to interrogate (trick) suspects, when they need people to trust them, she disappears into his coat, or wonders off for a while.  Just until they have what they need.  She always comes back afterwards.

When they are around other (ordinary, unimportant) people, she perches on his shoulder, or twines around his legs like a scaled, feathered cat.  He ignores the many and varied reactions from those around them; she revels in it. As far is he bothers to analyse her motives, he believes she enjoys scaring the humans and their daemons. And she does scare them.  Thesea stares at the daemons, even hisses at them, but makes no effort to interact with them.  More than that, she talks to their humans directly. Neither of them has ever bothered much with that particular taboo, but the rest of the world apparently does.  

Only a select few people ever converse with Thesea, and all of them are family members who are well used to their eccentricities.

They have only found one exception.

The first time Thesea spoke to John was at the school, surrounded by police tape and flashing lights. Sherlock had been momentarily angry at her- he had decided that he actually _liked_ John and Electra. Thesea’s attentions were bound to scare them off, and then he’d have to start the tedious business of finding another flatmate who would put up with the pair of them.

To his surprise, that hadn’t been necessary.

John had hardly hesitated, before replying to Thesea in a normal tone of voice. Even better; he looked her straight in the eye, as if she was another human being who he happened to be having a conversation with. Even Mycroft refuses to look at Thesea when they talk.

Then Electra had joined in the conversation, and Thesea hadn’t ignored her. Soon they were having a three-way conversation that lasted all the way to the Chinese restaurant. Sherlock had joined in now and then, but mostly he’d walked beside them and wondered.

At least they wouldn’t have to find a new flatmate.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thesea is a dragon, which in popular myth is meant to denote insanity. I based her on this picture: http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/96/6e/d3/966ed30ae2a58d0a7985d7ca2073c1a1.jpg . Electra is a husky, which in my mind stands for loyalty and courage.


End file.
